Happy Thanksgiving.
So I've been thinking about what I should be thankful for this year.
That I'm healthy again
That I have my parents and my brother
All the people that managed to get Barack Obama elected
Fantastic friends
M&Ms
Supernatural
now I'm just getting silly... but truely. I give thanks for everyone in my life who has helped shape and mold me into what I am today. My mother, you are my inspiration. My brother, you are my rock. Dad, you are my confidant. And my friends, you're the shoulders I need. You carry my to new levels and help me discover things about myself.
And on a happy note I leave you with an excerpt from the West Wing. It's from Shibboleth:
C.J.: I’m sorry to ask you this, sir.
BARTLET: Not too late to stop yourself.
C.J.: I need you to pardon a turkey.
BARTLET: I already pardoned a turkey.
C.J.: I need you to pardon another one.
BARTLET: Didn’t I do it right?
C.J.: You did it great, but I need you to come out here and pardon another one.
BARTLET: Aren’t I gonna get a reputation for being soft on turkeys?
C.J.: Sir, could you come out here and just get this over with?
BARTLET: No, I’m not just gonna get this--What the hell is going on?
C.J.[approaches]: They sent me two turkeys. The most photo-friendly of the two gets a Presidential pardon and a full life at a children’s zoo. The runner-up gets eaten.
BARTLET: If the Oscars were like that, I’d watch.
C.J.: Mr. President...
BARTLET: Just buy the second turkey.
C.J.: They already sold it.
BARTLET: There’s not much I can do.
C.J.:You can pardon the turkey.
BARTLET: The turkey hasn’t committed a crime.
C.J.: Sir...
BARTLET: C.J., I have really no judicial jurisdiction over birds.
C.J.: Yes, I know that, and you know that, but Morton Horn doesn’t know that.
BARTLET: Who’s Morton...?
C.J.: He’s a high school kid from the turkey place.
BARTLET: He’s in high school and he doesn’t know I can’t pardon his turkey?
C.J.: That’s what I’m betting.
BARTLET: C.J., if we don’t and I mean completely overhaul public education in this country...
C.J.: Yes sir, but maybe this is not the best time to...
BARTLET: Where the hell is he?
C.J.: Right out there.
Bartlet immediately heads for the door, with C.J. following behind him. As Bartlet and C.J. come out of the Oval Office, we see Donna and Morton by the door of the room near Charlie’s desk. Troy, the turkey, is in front of them.
C.J.: Morton, this is President Bartlet.
BARTLET: Hey, Morton.
MORTON: Wow.
BARTLET: Well said. Is that the turkey?
DONNA:Yes.
BARTLET[to the turkey]: You’re pardoned.
C.J.: Sir...
BARTLET: What do you want?
C.J.[with hand gestures]: Well, you know...
BARTLET[to the turkey again]: By the power vested in me by the Constitution of the United States, I hereby pardon you.
MORTON[pleased]: Okay.
BARTLET: No, it’s not okay.
C.J.: Sir...
BARTLET: Morton, I can’t pardon a turkey. If you think I can pardon a turkey, then you have got to go back to your school and insist that you be better prepared to go out in the world.
DONNA: You can’t pardon a turkey?
BARTLET[beat]: No. I tell you what I can do. I’m drafting this turkey into military service. In the meantime, somebody will be drafting a check, which will have my signature on it, so the folks can buy themselves a Butterball.
MORTON: Okay.
C.J.: Donna, will you have Morton take Troy back to his pen, and remember to support his hindquarters.
BARTLET[quietly to C.J.]: What’s wrong with him?
C.J.: The turkey’s hindquarters.
Morton picks up Troy and walks off with Donna
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Back in NYC
I'm sitting here in Akeli's apartment and watching the race with Stephan. We were supposed to watch it at Akeli's office with her and her colleagues, but one of the states... I can't remember which... put abortion on the ballot. So, as a result they're working around the clock putting together things for a press conference tonight after the election is over and everything is called. So until she gets home at 1 I'm going to write, watch CNN, and drink my orange juice.
At this point, I'm waiting for Indiana and Kentucky. The polls closed at 6 and so far it looks like Kentucky is going to McCain.
In a couple seconds the next group of polls will close. Vermont, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. CNN has already projected Vermont for Obama and Kentucky for McCain. In Kentucky even the 18-25 year olds voted for McCain. Hmm... odd. These are exit polls though... so we'll see. Fun Fact: If Virginia votes Democratic, it'll be the first time in 50 years that they've done so.
While we're waiting, let me tell you about the bus ride to New York. Well like usual I took a nap and played with my PSP. All in all not that exciting. The thing was is that while you're playing PSP it allows your mind and ears to wander. Mine wondered to the woman behind me, who apparenly had been in a house of a friend which was busted by the police. There was a guy staying there who had murdered someone. From the way she was telling it, it sounded like it was a movie. Who knew that these things really go on like in the movies. Police holding guns to a mother and child while yelling for the guy they're looking for. Scary.
The polls in North Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia have now closed. At the moment the board still looks very red, but it's still early in the night, so anything can happen. Indiana is the big state at the moment. It voted almost 89% republican during the last election. The only places that voted democratic were the college towns and up in the north-west corner that are actually considered suburbs of chicago, Illinois, which always votes Democratic. At the moment the state's still divided, but slightly in favor for McCain.
North Carolina and Florida are at the moment leaning towards Obama, and Indiana is still leaning to McCain. The popular vote though is heading towards Obama.
The thing about this election though, what most people are worried about is what is called the 'Gregory Effect'. These are the people who openly support someone, but who in actuality vote completely different. For example, an 18 year old that lives in Mississippi who comes from an incredibly republican family, And so hides behind a McCain t-shirt. In actuality they vote Obama at the poll. The same goes the other way. If you have friends who are very pro-Obama and you don't feel that you should vote Democratic, you'd hide behind the Democrats even if you're a republican. Politics here is a little like homosexuality: Don't ask don't tell.
Projection: South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee is going to McCain. Obama: Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, Main, Delaware, Maryland and Dist. of Columbia.
Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina can't be projected yet, even though they've closed.
Once it starts going, it goes fast- a half hour ago McCain was in the lead by 5 electoral votes and now Obama is ahead by 33 votes. But it's still the beginning of the evening, so anything can still happen.
Okay, so we're waiting again... Let me tell you about today. We started the day off really late and decided to go down to the financial district. We got off the subway on wall street and Broadway, which is where the Trinity Church is located, and our first stop of the day. It's a beautiful small church. The string orchestra was preforming, which gave the church an ethereal feeling. It was like being in a documentary.... walking around with your own soundtrack. The Church was originally built by the Dutch, but in the mean time has been burned down twice. All that's original is the ground it's on. None the less a great place.
Then ground Zero. It's odd to see it in person. There are cranes and construction and a bunch of other things, but all in all what really hits you in the hole. Just the fact that there should be something there and there isn't anymore. It's nuts. Then a stop to Boarders to see if they had some of the graphic Novels for Jan, and then wall street and city hall.
After we took the subway to grand central and walked to Rockefeller Center. It looks great tonight. NBC had a map put into the ice which they were going to fill in as the night goes on. The Election stage is there and hundreds of people were gathering to watch everything unfold. We continued on to Times Square where CNN had stationed itself. We collected the t-shirt and then went to the subway to get back to Akeli's to watch the rest of the evening.
So that's it for now. I've got all my Starbucks mugs as well as all my baseball t-shirts. Now just clothes. Prediction: New Hampshire to Obama.
Fun Fact: Nantucket has a bus service... but there are no stops or schedules.
Projection: Pennsylvania to Obama
This is an important win. Both Sides really pushed for this state. Maybe we did manage to help a little there ;p.
Now it's 102 electoral votes for Obama to McCain's 34.
Anyway... I'm going to go look for fruit. I'm not really going to be around the next coming few days. I'll see when I can post.
viva Obama
At this point, I'm waiting for Indiana and Kentucky. The polls closed at 6 and so far it looks like Kentucky is going to McCain.
In a couple seconds the next group of polls will close. Vermont, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. CNN has already projected Vermont for Obama and Kentucky for McCain. In Kentucky even the 18-25 year olds voted for McCain. Hmm... odd. These are exit polls though... so we'll see. Fun Fact: If Virginia votes Democratic, it'll be the first time in 50 years that they've done so.
While we're waiting, let me tell you about the bus ride to New York. Well like usual I took a nap and played with my PSP. All in all not that exciting. The thing was is that while you're playing PSP it allows your mind and ears to wander. Mine wondered to the woman behind me, who apparenly had been in a house of a friend which was busted by the police. There was a guy staying there who had murdered someone. From the way she was telling it, it sounded like it was a movie. Who knew that these things really go on like in the movies. Police holding guns to a mother and child while yelling for the guy they're looking for. Scary.
The polls in North Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia have now closed. At the moment the board still looks very red, but it's still early in the night, so anything can happen. Indiana is the big state at the moment. It voted almost 89% republican during the last election. The only places that voted democratic were the college towns and up in the north-west corner that are actually considered suburbs of chicago, Illinois, which always votes Democratic. At the moment the state's still divided, but slightly in favor for McCain.
North Carolina and Florida are at the moment leaning towards Obama, and Indiana is still leaning to McCain. The popular vote though is heading towards Obama.
The thing about this election though, what most people are worried about is what is called the 'Gregory Effect'. These are the people who openly support someone, but who in actuality vote completely different. For example, an 18 year old that lives in Mississippi who comes from an incredibly republican family, And so hides behind a McCain t-shirt. In actuality they vote Obama at the poll. The same goes the other way. If you have friends who are very pro-Obama and you don't feel that you should vote Democratic, you'd hide behind the Democrats even if you're a republican. Politics here is a little like homosexuality: Don't ask don't tell.
Projection: South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee is going to McCain. Obama: Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, Main, Delaware, Maryland and Dist. of Columbia.
Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina can't be projected yet, even though they've closed.
Once it starts going, it goes fast- a half hour ago McCain was in the lead by 5 electoral votes and now Obama is ahead by 33 votes. But it's still the beginning of the evening, so anything can still happen.
Okay, so we're waiting again... Let me tell you about today. We started the day off really late and decided to go down to the financial district. We got off the subway on wall street and Broadway, which is where the Trinity Church is located, and our first stop of the day. It's a beautiful small church. The string orchestra was preforming, which gave the church an ethereal feeling. It was like being in a documentary.... walking around with your own soundtrack. The Church was originally built by the Dutch, but in the mean time has been burned down twice. All that's original is the ground it's on. None the less a great place.
Then ground Zero. It's odd to see it in person. There are cranes and construction and a bunch of other things, but all in all what really hits you in the hole. Just the fact that there should be something there and there isn't anymore. It's nuts. Then a stop to Boarders to see if they had some of the graphic Novels for Jan, and then wall street and city hall.
After we took the subway to grand central and walked to Rockefeller Center. It looks great tonight. NBC had a map put into the ice which they were going to fill in as the night goes on. The Election stage is there and hundreds of people were gathering to watch everything unfold. We continued on to Times Square where CNN had stationed itself. We collected the t-shirt and then went to the subway to get back to Akeli's to watch the rest of the evening.
So that's it for now. I've got all my Starbucks mugs as well as all my baseball t-shirts. Now just clothes. Prediction: New Hampshire to Obama.
Fun Fact: Nantucket has a bus service... but there are no stops or schedules.
Projection: Pennsylvania to Obama
This is an important win. Both Sides really pushed for this state. Maybe we did manage to help a little there ;p.
Now it's 102 electoral votes for Obama to McCain's 34.
Anyway... I'm going to go look for fruit. I'm not really going to be around the next coming few days. I'll see when I can post.
viva Obama
Monday, November 03, 2008
Last note from Boston
So, this morning turned in a slow sart. We left at 12.30 from the hotel, only to realise that it was 11.30. The time change had happened overnight and therefore had given us an extra hour. We first went to the sight of the Boston Tea Party. Which, is now a park! Here I was expecting to see a boat, a plaque, a museum, a statue- I don't know, something! But instead it was a park. Nothing mentioning that it was the sight of the event. It's a pretty park, I wont disagree, but you'd think they'd have put something. Americans are usually really good at that kind of stuff, so you'd think they'd do SOMETHING! Afterwards we stopped at Dunkin Doughnuts so that I could have a Boson Kreme. I was wondering if it would be different in Boston.... but it wasn't. Still good though.
Then we took the boat shuttle to Charlestown. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. That doesn't mean that it wasn't cold, becuase it was. Today was a whopping 3 degrees, and with wind chill it was noting but freezing. We took a bunch of nice pictures, I saw buildings from Boston Legal, and all out enjoyed the 20 minute ride. They dropped us off at the USS Constitution, which is exactly where we wanted to be.
The USS Consitution is a 1797 frigate which carries anywhere between 44-60 guns, both short and long range and had a crew of about 450-500 people. During the war of 1912 it won 3 battles and at the 'end' of it's carrier had a count of 53-0. The ship was built specially and was designed such so that cannonballs literally bounced off it. I put end in quotations because technically it hasn't been retired. Needless to say if they were to send it anywhere, by the time it got there the battle would be long over, but it's still in use and is taken out about 2 times a year. It's manned by the US Navy, who not only give tours (our tourguide was guy that looked like Sammy Davis Jr. but had pants on which made him look like he was wearing a diper), but polish, do upkeep, and do the necessary repairs to it. It's under parital reconstruction at the moment, but none the less very intersting. Fun Fact: The word scuttlebutt comes from these ships. Nowerdays the word means gossip. Back then the only place that sailors were allowed to talk was near the water tank (Go figure people back then were talking near the water-cooler ;p) and the hole that you reached through to fill your cup was called the scuttlebutt. So, scuttlebutting was talking near the water tank.
After, we headed to Bunker Hill. Bunker Hill is where the turning point of the war of independence happened. 3 scermishes occurred here, and ended in a slaughter of the loyalists. There's an obilisque you can climb of 535 steps (some of the most uneven ones I've ever seen... it makes mount Sinai look easy) but we made it up and got a spectacular view of the surrounding city.
This concludes Boston actually. We'd seen everything by this point. So, we went to Macy's where I bought a really nice black dress and a thicker pair of PJs. The heating didn't work last night, so I thought it might be a better idea NOT to freeze, like I did last night.
And in a moment we're going to head to dinner near the hotel. Tomorrow we'll be taking the bus to NYC, where we'll be until saturday. I'll be home sunday afternoon.
So, my final opinion of Boston... I don't think i'll be back here. It's interesting, and historical (I'm glad I came) but now having seen it I can say that there's nothing here for me. It's pretty in it's own way, but not my kind of people. It's too expensive, too small, and too student-like. Philly is still my favorite.
Then we took the boat shuttle to Charlestown. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. That doesn't mean that it wasn't cold, becuase it was. Today was a whopping 3 degrees, and with wind chill it was noting but freezing. We took a bunch of nice pictures, I saw buildings from Boston Legal, and all out enjoyed the 20 minute ride. They dropped us off at the USS Constitution, which is exactly where we wanted to be.
The USS Consitution is a 1797 frigate which carries anywhere between 44-60 guns, both short and long range and had a crew of about 450-500 people. During the war of 1912 it won 3 battles and at the 'end' of it's carrier had a count of 53-0. The ship was built specially and was designed such so that cannonballs literally bounced off it. I put end in quotations because technically it hasn't been retired. Needless to say if they were to send it anywhere, by the time it got there the battle would be long over, but it's still in use and is taken out about 2 times a year. It's manned by the US Navy, who not only give tours (our tourguide was guy that looked like Sammy Davis Jr. but had pants on which made him look like he was wearing a diper), but polish, do upkeep, and do the necessary repairs to it. It's under parital reconstruction at the moment, but none the less very intersting. Fun Fact: The word scuttlebutt comes from these ships. Nowerdays the word means gossip. Back then the only place that sailors were allowed to talk was near the water tank (Go figure people back then were talking near the water-cooler ;p) and the hole that you reached through to fill your cup was called the scuttlebutt. So, scuttlebutting was talking near the water tank.
After, we headed to Bunker Hill. Bunker Hill is where the turning point of the war of independence happened. 3 scermishes occurred here, and ended in a slaughter of the loyalists. There's an obilisque you can climb of 535 steps (some of the most uneven ones I've ever seen... it makes mount Sinai look easy) but we made it up and got a spectacular view of the surrounding city.
This concludes Boston actually. We'd seen everything by this point. So, we went to Macy's where I bought a really nice black dress and a thicker pair of PJs. The heating didn't work last night, so I thought it might be a better idea NOT to freeze, like I did last night.
And in a moment we're going to head to dinner near the hotel. Tomorrow we'll be taking the bus to NYC, where we'll be until saturday. I'll be home sunday afternoon.
So, my final opinion of Boston... I don't think i'll be back here. It's interesting, and historical (I'm glad I came) but now having seen it I can say that there's nothing here for me. It's pretty in it's own way, but not my kind of people. It's too expensive, too small, and too student-like. Philly is still my favorite.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
A Long message and Halloween
The reason that I haven't written is because we have no Internet here in Boston. I didn't realise how difficult it was not having Internet a couple days and not being able to get into touch with people. I love writing about my day and working through it. I especially like hearing what all of you think, so it works out both ways I suppose.
Let's start with Thursday. Nothing really happened that day, considering that we were in a train for about 10 hours. It's actually really exhausting travelling by train. I ran through my battery on my PSP and then had nothing left to do but finish reading my book and start another. For all you Lyndsay Sands fans... The newest book is great. Funny and simple, if not a little odd, it wasn't at all what i thought it would be. Enjoy it, because there isn't another one coming in the series for a while as I understand it.
We got to our hostel, which really isn't that bad. It's a straight metro line into town which takes about 20 minutes, because they travel so slow. The metro also looks more like a tram, but that they travel underground as well. They're really nice though. People here are really different to those in DC and Philly. If Philly is Amsterdam, and DC is Rotterdam, then Boston has to be Den Haag. The people have the same stuck-up/superior way of walking and talking. I'd definitely never live here... I think I'd go nuts between them.
We're staying in the college area. This place is crawling with students. Not only are we near Boston University, but we're also close to Boston College. If you think that Groningen or Utrecht have a lot of students, you've obviously never been to Boston. Boston has more educational institutions than anywhere else in the united states. Among the 47 Universities and colleges you've got BU, B college, Harvard, MIT, Berkley, Bunker Hill Community College, Northeastern University, and Suffolk University. It's pretty ridiculous. So you can kind of imagine what it's like here. Our Hostel is only about 3 stops from BU and another 10 to BC, so we're pretty much in the heart of one of the student areas.
The room itself is quite nice. Nothing a good cleaning couldn't fix in any case, but we've got our own kitchen and we share the bathroom with about 4 other people, so it's relatively clean. That being the case, the first thing we did was go out for groceries and soap so that we could do some laundry. I'm surprised my nails are still where they are considering all the hand washing I've done in the last two days, but all my cloths are clean again. That night we decided to stay in, which I'm glad about. I got to watch Supernatural (The Halloween episode) and The Eleventh Hour, which were two of the programs I had hoped to catch. The constant commercials drive me crazy though!
Yesterday turned out to be a fun relaxed day. We walked the freedom trail, had a tour through the state house and met up with a friend for dinner. The freedom trail is a path that goes past all the important historical sights of Boston. It's literally a trail, they've put a bricked line into the ground for you to follow, with occasional painted areas, which are a little less clear, so every now and then you really have to look for the continuation of the line. There are a couple really famous places on the trip, I'll spare you the history of them all, but there are a couple that might interest some people, so I'll tell you a little about those. The fist is a place that was owned by Ebeneezer Revere. He was the brother of Paul Revere, who I'll get to in a moment. Other than the fact that he was Paul's brother he's not all that interesting. The interesting thing was that his house has been used for about 4 different versions of The Christmas Carol. Whether that was because of his name or because his house just fits with it I don't know, but as a great lover of the dickens books and movies I can tell you that it's really quite a sight to see in real life.
The next place is the Old Book Store. When I saw this on the map you can imagine what I thought.... OOOOO BBBOOOKKKKSSSS!!! Stephan looked a little scared, especially considering that he's carrying my luggage when we travel and I'm carrying his. ;p. But luckily for him, and I suppose my bookroom, it's no longer a book store but a jewelery store. What is interesting about the building though, was that it was the first literary building in the Untied States. Not only was it the first publisher, but it was the publisher for Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Longfellow. It was also the local hang out for authors such as Melville. I can just picture all of these people sitting around a table at various periods of history and discussing literary ideas and opinions. Dickens also stopped here on his tour of the United States to spend some time with the local writing talent and considered the place to be "A delight, where the level of discussion surpasses daily existence and focuses on the novelty of the universe."
Now we come to Paul Revere. I don't know if you know about him, but Paul Revere was made famous by the poem of Longfellow. When the colonies were breaking away from the British, he was a spy for the colonists who supported the separation. They were worried that Hancock and Lee would be executed and was supposed to warn people that the British were on their way so that they could hide. History textbooks quote him when he said: "The British are coming, the British are coming." This is taught in all 8th grade history classes and is probably one of the most famous stories of the Revolution. It's what started the revolution, the Boston tea party, and the Boston Massacre. So then my question becomes: How come the history books got it so wrong. Apparently most kids here in the US are learning the story completely wrong. Revere never yelled that the British were coming and he did manage to complete his mission. Anything else is poetic licence by Longfellow. You can imagine how brainwashed I felt when I had a 8 year old lean over and tell me that I had the story wrong when I while I was in the midst of explaining the events to Stephan! Apparently they've only starting correcting history books about 5 years ago. So anyone who was in 8th grade before then has this glorious piece of fiction in their head.
So, hereby, let me set the record straight: Paul Revere was a goldsmith/silversmith (Apparently they use those things interchangeably here... I'm not sure my great grandfather would have agreed with that) who by the age of 19 was as rich as Croesus. His company was doing so well that he decided he needed a little more excitement in his life. What did he do? He married. But boredom set in and as a result when the colonies decided to break away with mother England, he decided to join the effort by running secret messages to Lexington and coder (where the munitions were kept) stating what the movement of the British troops were that were stationed in Boston Harbour. So between his Goldsmith-ing, fathering children, and his courier job, he was kept quite busy.
Now, there were plans put into place for when the Loyalists would start moving, and to warn everyone there was a plan to hang lanterns from above the New Church. One for if they were coming by land and two if they were coming from see. His best friend would hang them while Revere would try to slip past the British to warn Hancock and Lee. When movement started one night, the plan was set in motion. His best friend hung the lantern and Revere went to warn everyone in Lexington. He was rowed across the water by some friends, but they didn't have cloth to keep the oars from making noise, so one of the men ran to his sweetheart's house to get some cloth and they made it safely. Revere then took a horse from someone he knew and set of the Lexington. By the time he got there another runner who had gone by land had already made it there to warn Hancock and the General. It wasn't until he was told to go and warn the minutemen in Codor that he happened upon a British Patrol that he was caught. On their way back to Boston they were caught unaware by a firefight and Revere escaped.
That's it. That's all that happened that night. Further Revere managed to live to an age of about 80. He had 15 children by 2 wives (the second he married 6 months after the death of the first) and he wasn't famous until Longfellow made a hero out of him about 5 years after his death. This account though comes form the diary of Revere. How true that is I don't know. Any Literature student can attest to the fact that anytime you put something to paper things get changed because of audience and such. So as to accurate, who knows. But this is what schools are teaching children now.
His house was really interesting, the building is very well preserved, even though the furniture wasn't original. Also he lived next to the Mariner's house. It's a hotel for sailors. Where they could rest, eat and be entertained while on shore. Fun fact: It's still a Mariners house. The only people that can lodge there are sailors. For free.
We then went to boarders so that I could buy a book to read. Having finished all the others, and then we met up with Sidharth. Sidharth and I met in Toronto the year I lived there. He was Sasha's classmate, but I didn't really get to know him until after I left. He and Sasha both went to University in/near Philly so kept in touch and are really close. We had a good time. The three of us first went to dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant and then decided to go on a pub crawl. I slept really well last night.
Today we've dubbed as 'REST DAY'. Which is exactly what we are doing. Besides being woken up at 10.30 by my parents we've taken it really easy and are now at an Internet cafe checking mail and getting to send my email. No sightseeing today, we're going to go shopping and then we're meeting up with another friend from Toronto: Cristina. Her father was the Portuguese Consul General's daughter at the time and we had 13th grade Bio together. She, the South African Consul general's daughter and I became really good friends towards the end of my stay in Toronto and even better after I left. Facebook really is the greatest creation since email.
So, that's all pretty much except to tell you about last night. As most of you, if not all of you know, last night was Halloween. So we got to see kids trick or treating, as well as college kids in the craziest costumes. I saw 2 Palins and 1 McCain. 6 Bananas, and more miniskirts than I can think of. Stephan and Sidharth were having the time of their lives. We even saw a jack-o-lantern carved into Obama. But the greatest part of Halloween, hands down, are the kids. They were SOOO cute! Bar, you would have loved them! Imagine little bumble bees, small princesses, spidermen, and much more, running around with their parents and knocking on doors. I swear, when I have kids I'm so bringing them here (the US, not Boston) to experience this. Every kid should experience this at least one time in their lives. Even though the Halloween party I have every year is a lot of fun, nothing can replace the real thing as a kid.
So I'll leave you with the image of bumble bees and supermen, and I'm going to go have lunch. Have a great day and Happy belated Halloween!
Let's start with Thursday. Nothing really happened that day, considering that we were in a train for about 10 hours. It's actually really exhausting travelling by train. I ran through my battery on my PSP and then had nothing left to do but finish reading my book and start another. For all you Lyndsay Sands fans... The newest book is great. Funny and simple, if not a little odd, it wasn't at all what i thought it would be. Enjoy it, because there isn't another one coming in the series for a while as I understand it.
We got to our hostel, which really isn't that bad. It's a straight metro line into town which takes about 20 minutes, because they travel so slow. The metro also looks more like a tram, but that they travel underground as well. They're really nice though. People here are really different to those in DC and Philly. If Philly is Amsterdam, and DC is Rotterdam, then Boston has to be Den Haag. The people have the same stuck-up/superior way of walking and talking. I'd definitely never live here... I think I'd go nuts between them.
We're staying in the college area. This place is crawling with students. Not only are we near Boston University, but we're also close to Boston College. If you think that Groningen or Utrecht have a lot of students, you've obviously never been to Boston. Boston has more educational institutions than anywhere else in the united states. Among the 47 Universities and colleges you've got BU, B college, Harvard, MIT, Berkley, Bunker Hill Community College, Northeastern University, and Suffolk University. It's pretty ridiculous. So you can kind of imagine what it's like here. Our Hostel is only about 3 stops from BU and another 10 to BC, so we're pretty much in the heart of one of the student areas.
The room itself is quite nice. Nothing a good cleaning couldn't fix in any case, but we've got our own kitchen and we share the bathroom with about 4 other people, so it's relatively clean. That being the case, the first thing we did was go out for groceries and soap so that we could do some laundry. I'm surprised my nails are still where they are considering all the hand washing I've done in the last two days, but all my cloths are clean again. That night we decided to stay in, which I'm glad about. I got to watch Supernatural (The Halloween episode) and The Eleventh Hour, which were two of the programs I had hoped to catch. The constant commercials drive me crazy though!
Yesterday turned out to be a fun relaxed day. We walked the freedom trail, had a tour through the state house and met up with a friend for dinner. The freedom trail is a path that goes past all the important historical sights of Boston. It's literally a trail, they've put a bricked line into the ground for you to follow, with occasional painted areas, which are a little less clear, so every now and then you really have to look for the continuation of the line. There are a couple really famous places on the trip, I'll spare you the history of them all, but there are a couple that might interest some people, so I'll tell you a little about those. The fist is a place that was owned by Ebeneezer Revere. He was the brother of Paul Revere, who I'll get to in a moment. Other than the fact that he was Paul's brother he's not all that interesting. The interesting thing was that his house has been used for about 4 different versions of The Christmas Carol. Whether that was because of his name or because his house just fits with it I don't know, but as a great lover of the dickens books and movies I can tell you that it's really quite a sight to see in real life.
The next place is the Old Book Store. When I saw this on the map you can imagine what I thought.... OOOOO BBBOOOKKKKSSSS!!! Stephan looked a little scared, especially considering that he's carrying my luggage when we travel and I'm carrying his. ;p. But luckily for him, and I suppose my bookroom, it's no longer a book store but a jewelery store. What is interesting about the building though, was that it was the first literary building in the Untied States. Not only was it the first publisher, but it was the publisher for Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Longfellow. It was also the local hang out for authors such as Melville. I can just picture all of these people sitting around a table at various periods of history and discussing literary ideas and opinions. Dickens also stopped here on his tour of the United States to spend some time with the local writing talent and considered the place to be "A delight, where the level of discussion surpasses daily existence and focuses on the novelty of the universe."
Now we come to Paul Revere. I don't know if you know about him, but Paul Revere was made famous by the poem of Longfellow. When the colonies were breaking away from the British, he was a spy for the colonists who supported the separation. They were worried that Hancock and Lee would be executed and was supposed to warn people that the British were on their way so that they could hide. History textbooks quote him when he said: "The British are coming, the British are coming." This is taught in all 8th grade history classes and is probably one of the most famous stories of the Revolution. It's what started the revolution, the Boston tea party, and the Boston Massacre. So then my question becomes: How come the history books got it so wrong. Apparently most kids here in the US are learning the story completely wrong. Revere never yelled that the British were coming and he did manage to complete his mission. Anything else is poetic licence by Longfellow. You can imagine how brainwashed I felt when I had a 8 year old lean over and tell me that I had the story wrong when I while I was in the midst of explaining the events to Stephan! Apparently they've only starting correcting history books about 5 years ago. So anyone who was in 8th grade before then has this glorious piece of fiction in their head.
So, hereby, let me set the record straight: Paul Revere was a goldsmith/silversmith (Apparently they use those things interchangeably here... I'm not sure my great grandfather would have agreed with that) who by the age of 19 was as rich as Croesus. His company was doing so well that he decided he needed a little more excitement in his life. What did he do? He married. But boredom set in and as a result when the colonies decided to break away with mother England, he decided to join the effort by running secret messages to Lexington and coder (where the munitions were kept) stating what the movement of the British troops were that were stationed in Boston Harbour. So between his Goldsmith-ing, fathering children, and his courier job, he was kept quite busy.
Now, there were plans put into place for when the Loyalists would start moving, and to warn everyone there was a plan to hang lanterns from above the New Church. One for if they were coming by land and two if they were coming from see. His best friend would hang them while Revere would try to slip past the British to warn Hancock and Lee. When movement started one night, the plan was set in motion. His best friend hung the lantern and Revere went to warn everyone in Lexington. He was rowed across the water by some friends, but they didn't have cloth to keep the oars from making noise, so one of the men ran to his sweetheart's house to get some cloth and they made it safely. Revere then took a horse from someone he knew and set of the Lexington. By the time he got there another runner who had gone by land had already made it there to warn Hancock and the General. It wasn't until he was told to go and warn the minutemen in Codor that he happened upon a British Patrol that he was caught. On their way back to Boston they were caught unaware by a firefight and Revere escaped.
That's it. That's all that happened that night. Further Revere managed to live to an age of about 80. He had 15 children by 2 wives (the second he married 6 months after the death of the first) and he wasn't famous until Longfellow made a hero out of him about 5 years after his death. This account though comes form the diary of Revere. How true that is I don't know. Any Literature student can attest to the fact that anytime you put something to paper things get changed because of audience and such. So as to accurate, who knows. But this is what schools are teaching children now.
His house was really interesting, the building is very well preserved, even though the furniture wasn't original. Also he lived next to the Mariner's house. It's a hotel for sailors. Where they could rest, eat and be entertained while on shore. Fun fact: It's still a Mariners house. The only people that can lodge there are sailors. For free.
We then went to boarders so that I could buy a book to read. Having finished all the others, and then we met up with Sidharth. Sidharth and I met in Toronto the year I lived there. He was Sasha's classmate, but I didn't really get to know him until after I left. He and Sasha both went to University in/near Philly so kept in touch and are really close. We had a good time. The three of us first went to dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant and then decided to go on a pub crawl. I slept really well last night.
Today we've dubbed as 'REST DAY'. Which is exactly what we are doing. Besides being woken up at 10.30 by my parents we've taken it really easy and are now at an Internet cafe checking mail and getting to send my email. No sightseeing today, we're going to go shopping and then we're meeting up with another friend from Toronto: Cristina. Her father was the Portuguese Consul General's daughter at the time and we had 13th grade Bio together. She, the South African Consul general's daughter and I became really good friends towards the end of my stay in Toronto and even better after I left. Facebook really is the greatest creation since email.
So, that's all pretty much except to tell you about last night. As most of you, if not all of you know, last night was Halloween. So we got to see kids trick or treating, as well as college kids in the craziest costumes. I saw 2 Palins and 1 McCain. 6 Bananas, and more miniskirts than I can think of. Stephan and Sidharth were having the time of their lives. We even saw a jack-o-lantern carved into Obama. But the greatest part of Halloween, hands down, are the kids. They were SOOO cute! Bar, you would have loved them! Imagine little bumble bees, small princesses, spidermen, and much more, running around with their parents and knocking on doors. I swear, when I have kids I'm so bringing them here (the US, not Boston) to experience this. Every kid should experience this at least one time in their lives. Even though the Halloween party I have every year is a lot of fun, nothing can replace the real thing as a kid.
So I'll leave you with the image of bumble bees and supermen, and I'm going to go have lunch. Have a great day and Happy belated Halloween!
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